Fish? She means witching out? That's what Sayaka turns into when she turns into a Witch, then? Yes, you don't know, because you don't remember. And what the hell is the candle thing about?

"Well, a mermaid, I guess, but that's besides the point," Pinky snaps irritably as she steps away from a still-frowning Sayaka. "Like I said, it'd probably be much more easier if she just got it over with already. That way, Kyoko wouldn't go into the downward spiral she always falls into when she sees it coming and tries to do something about it. When she tries to HELP."

The eldritchian horror shakes her head, her eyes losing their golden sheen, turning a tarry, roiling black once more. "Some people should just know when to give up and STOP HELPING! You can't fix everything no matter how hard you try! It's like banging your head against a wall, do it enough times and you become a candle-head thing riding a two-dimensional HORSE!"

Silence, as you wait for the insane, corrupted personification of all your past mistakes catch her breath, her small chest heaving as she fumed. One clawed hand fanning her face, the other pulling at the collar of her bloodied stewardess costume.

"No, no, can't deal with it. Can't possibly deal with it. Need to get some air, need to get out of here. Whew." Pinky shakes her head, before turning to glare at you. "Remember what we talked about, Homura-chan. If I catch you talking to those idiots inside the Desert Eagle I gave you, then the next time we talk, you'd better be on all fours and BEGGING to lick the dirt off my shoes."

Just as you open your mouth to reply, it's here that she leans in close to you, going up on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on your cheek. Her lips soft, and bitingly cold. "Have a great day at work, honey!"

There's a sharp metallic clang, followed by the rasp of metal gears forcibly seperating from each other - and the world once more regains its color. Time resuming its flow.

"--we're nearly at the drop point! We don't have time for delays!" Sayaka's frown finally engages fully for only a second, before it's wiped out by an expression of pure revulsion. "W-what the hell? I..." She looks down on her arms, before hugging herself. "D-did it just get colder here all of a sudden? It feels like I just got hugged by a corpse, a-and--" It's here that she shrieks. "Kyoko! You're bleeding!"

"Huh?" You turn to look at the red-haired Eversor, who is in fact bleeding from somewhere on her scalp - thick red blood bisecting her face as it trickles from her forehead. "B-but I don't even remember getting cut...!"

Huh. That's...yeah, probably when Pinky threw that soul gem away and hit her on the head. Huh. So that can happen too?

"Fuck's sake, Murderface, get out of the way," Sayaka grumbles as she squeezes past you, and you watch as your equerry begins to fuss with her partner-in-crime. One hand pulling a white silk handkerchief from the pockets of her skirt, mopping up Kyoko's face, the other pressing against the redhead's scalp, a white glow suffusing her fingers. "Are you hurt anywhere else? Come on, tell me, don't try to hide it, I'm not going to patch you up if you complain later--"

...Well. Seems Pinky can be useful sometimes, besides...well, just freaking the shit out of you. Oh, and giving you back the ability to stop time, if on a limited basis.

Someday, someday you'll find out just what you did to make her into that kind of thing.

You just hope you'll be strong enough not to shoot your own Soul Gem when you do.

A few minutes later, all three of you are already geared up and ready for HALO jump insertion. You had Sayaka help you with the straps - you don't remember doing this kind of thing since basic training - and the Eversor seemed to enjoy making you complain when she tightened them a bit too much.

"Maybe next training we'll focus on getting you in shape, huh, Murderface?" Sayaka smirks, before slamming the heel of her hand against the plane's bay door OPEN button - the deafening whine of machinery soon overwhelmed by the howl of the completely black night sky outside. A yawning void, just waiting to devour the three of you. "Alright, everyone remember what we're aiming for?"

Strut A, yeah. The pumping station thing.

"Right! We'll probably get seperated when we land, so that's our waypoint just in case. Soon as you hit the water, cut your chutes and rig, swim towards the shell and make your way up. Try not to trip up the alarms BEFORE we join up again. Try to keep codec comms to a minimum, too, we're not operating with secure frequencies."

"Just making sure." Sayaka offers her hand to you, and you blink at it for a moment before taking it.

"Take care of yourself, Murderface." Sayaka grins at you, giving your hand a squeeze. "Don't make me the first Equerry in the Ninth to have her Warmaster killed on their first joint op together, alright?"

You find yourself grinning back, before nodding. You're not making any guarantees, but you'll try your best.

"Good enough." Sayaka nods. "See you in Strut A, losers!"

With that, the blue-haired Eversor hurls herself out the plane. YOu see Kyoko wincing at her departure, fiddling with her own chute straps.

"Never gets easier, this, no matter how many times I do it." The red-haired Eversor swallows audibly, her face pale. "Anyway, uh...just like Sayaka-chan said, watch yourself when we get down there, alright? Switch on your codec headset once you get up somewhere dry so we can track you. Or you can track us."

She takes a deep breath, before stepping towards the yawning mouth of the bay doors. "It'll be over before I know it. Right. Yeah. Just like riding a bike..."

Seems like Kyoko's not all that hot with skydiving. Who figured?

[]Let Kyoko jump on her own. She's a big girl, she can handle herself.[]Offer to jump together.

>>29823972Oh man, you have no idea, I'm glad Decu used Risa properly because I really wanted to see her, and all I could think of was having Monologue take over Wendy's narration and fucking with her something terrible, it was probably going to be nonsensical, pointless, and bad, nya.

>>29824157We talked to them in the vault and she doesn't appear to know about that, so at least the vault seems to be safe. If that is due to the antimagic on the vault, it stands to reason silent rooms are probably safe as well.As a general guess, if we can use magic/the shield, it's probably not safe to communicate.

So it comes down to whether we want timestop or the broken FLESH OF FALLEN ANGELS with the deagle. Deagle FOFA would be bonkers. 2k+ years of combat experience and multiple spirits. I wonder if it would have 3 flames instead of 1.

>>29824193The Vault isn't protected, and we don't know if a Silent Room's anti-magic field will suppress communication with a Golden Weapon. We only got lucky with the Vault because Pinky wasn't watching us at the time. She is going to be watching us more carefully and frequently from now on.

>>29824495Really? For some reason I thought the vault had an AMF too.In that case, yeah, it's probably contingent on Pinky not watching us, which is a problem, because we can't necessarily tell when she is or isn't. Good thing we got an infodump out of the fragments before Pinky caught on.

>>29824493I got the impression that we can only call on one of the spirits at a time, and only if they're willing.

...son of a bitch. Pinky doesn't have any say over the Deagle, does she? She's taken Time Stop for her own, even though it's not hers. But despite creating the Deagle, it's Homu Country... Pinky can't stop here.

You step up the bay doors with Kyoko, both your ponytails flapping in the howling wind.

What, is she scared of heights or something? Aren't Eversors supposed to be the KNOW NO FEAR kind of crowd? Buncha crazies.

"W-what? Aw, of course not, Murderface! Jeez!" She digs an elbow into your side. "It's just, you know..." Her voice trails off in hesitant silence, before her one eye swivels to look at you. "Yeah, alright, fine. Everything about being an Eversor I can handle. This kind of thing, not really."

Huh. Well. There's a thing.

Does she want to jump together with you, then? Just, you know, no holding hands or everything. No homo.

"...Hah, you gettin' soft on me, Murderface?" Despite everything, Kyoko manages to crack her trademark toothy grin. "Naw, I'll be fine. Thanks for offerin', though, that helps plenty." The red-haired Eversor takes another deep breath, before bracing herself against the side of the plane as she inches forward. "Right. Just...one step more, and I'll be out. Down there." Swallowing hard, she turns to look at you again. "Maybe--"

...

You slam both hands into her parachute pack, shoving HARD - and Kyoko shrieks as she tumbles out of the bay doors, screaming your name the entire way down.

"GOD DAMMIT MURDERFAAACE!"

That's for setting you on fire all those times, you call after her, and move to follow suit - until something makes you turn back towards the plane's insides at the very last moment. It's here, then, that you see a vision of Pinky, still in her stewardess costume, waving at you. Much like a housewife waving goodbye to her husband just as he drives away to work.

One day. You'll learn just what you did.

And you'll make sure that you never forget it ever again.

Maybe just take a knife and carve it into your forearms, or something.

Tearing your eyes away from the apparition, you step off out of the plane - and spread your arms wide to let the yawning abyss take you.

Barely two seconds of freefall - the wind screaming in your ears as you streamline your body to allow for the least amount of wind resistance possible, letting you reach terminal velocity much more easily - and you remember just how much you hated skydiving.

Because it's fucking cold, that's why.

But you're not complaining. Far from it. For the first time in a long while, you're actually doing work - the real sort of work Magical Girls are supposed to do, nothing like the drudgery and the torture of paperwork. So what if you're risking hypoxia and hypothermia diving like this without an oxygen tank or a diving suit?

As long as you're as far away from being a watch-wearing dildo as possible, you'll dive naked into magma if you have to.

Keeping a close watch on your altimeter - the glow-in-the-dark digital display rapidly clicking down the hundreds, then thousands of feet as you continue your descent - You glance around, to see if you could spot Kyoko or Sayaka in the dark. Unfortunately, you see nothing, other than the pinprick lights of the looming structure of Big Shell below you.

A few moments more of freefall, and your altimeter beeps as it ticks down to 1000 feet. You immediately release your chute with a tug of your rip cord - and you clench your teeth as your breakneck descent jerks to a halt, and then into a smoother, slightly slower fall.

You brace yourself again as the now choppy waves of the sea rise up to meet you, and you find yourself gasping at just how fucking COLD it is when you splash finally splash down. The shock of it nearly punching the wind out of your lungs.

Despite that - and very nearly drowning as you manage to get yourself tangled in your chute's webbing - you actually manage to swim to the strut nearest you, its markings declaring itself to be that of Strut A's.

Some more swimming, and you manage to get into its deep sea dock - where, of all things, a miniature submarine is parked. The kind of submarine that those nature documentaries use to explore deep sea wrecks, or at least you think so.

There doesn't seem to be anybody around - no cameras either - so you pull yourself out of the freezing sea and up onto the boarding platform, as quietly as you could possibly manage under the circumstances. Which is not that quietly at all.

It's here, as you get your bearings and look around for your team mates - half-expecting Sayaka to melt from the shadows and berate you for not being quiet - that you see something peculiar: a discarded gas mask with a skull design printed on its face. The skull itself is printed to look as if it's wearing an eyepatch. It's floating around near the miniature submarine, as if somebody had just thrown it there like garbage.

Before you could investigate it, however, it's here that your codec headset starts to vibrate in your inventory, alerting you that either Sayaka or Kyoko was now trying to contact you. Shaking your head - and brushing the wet, matted hair away from your eyes - you pull it out and put it on. Crouching under cover as you do so.

"Murderface!" Sayaka. "The hell took you so long? I was calling you three minutes ago, and--"

Kept her waiting, huh?

There's a moment of silence, and you could swear you could hear Sayaka counting backwards from ten. "....Yes, you did, dumbass. Anyway, what's your location? And is Kyoko with you?"

You respond to the negative. Kyoko's not with you, she jumped before you did. You're in Strut A at the moment, though.

"Lucky." You could almost see Sayaka frowning. "I got a bit off-course, but I think I'm relatively close to your position. Make your way to Strut B, anyway, we'll meet up there. Meantime keep your channel open in case Kyoko checks in."

...Wait. Kyoko hasn't contacted her? Not yet? But it's been a while already, and--

"No, not yet. Been trying to contact her myself, though, but she's not responding."

Huh. Well. Wouldn't it be better for you to just wait here in Strut A, just in case Kyoko's just running late, or something...?

"She'll be fine, Murderface. Christ, this isn't her first mission, and neither is this yours. Just get to Strut B. Sayaka out."

Right. Fine.

You hope Kyoko's alright. Surely...surely she didn't get hurt on her way down because you pushed her out of the plane, right?

No. No, of course not. She's a fucking Eversor, she does this for a living. She'll be fine. You're just being paranoid.

...

But Pinky help you if she isn't.

You shake your head at this, before making to move.

>Mission Perspective Switch: At various times on this mission, you'll be able to switch between perspectives. Vote for the Magical Girl's perspective you wish to experience this part of the mission from!

>>29824594I'd say Kyouko, cuz better we know what's happening on her end than having any surprises.[x]KyoukoOther than the possible meeting with a Big Boss/Raiden expy, I mean.I SAW THAT EYEPATCH SKULL HELM DECU.

>>29824588We could...well, almost pull a kyubey in that regard. They contacted us, told us to kill pinky but we said "fuck that" and we're trying a different plan. It's not a lie, in the most technical of terms, but it omits a lot of otherwise damning information.

That was grasblade. He drew the armored fragment, the hairstyles from the housewarming thread, Chiaki with chain axes and the drawing of Kyouko, Chiaki and Sayaka in this thread. I recognize the style.

You are Sakura Kyoko, Magical Girl! You just got pushed out of the fucking plane by your now EX-BEST FRIEND FOREVER, Chiaki "MurderFARTS" Matsuda! And you were just about to get yourself fucking centered, too! A-and you were gonna say something cool before jumping, and everything!

...

Well, no, not really. You've always been terrified of jumps. Not heights, jumps. You've got no problem with heights, in fact you're pretty comfortable climbing up somewhere high, like at the top of a crane or a skyscraper scaffolding, and eating your lunch there while your legs dangle over a hundred-story drop. No problem there, no sir, no way, no how.

It's the FALLING that gets you. The...the terminal velocity thing, that you never really get if you're just jumping down from the top of an electricity pole to dive-kick some poor fuckface in the jaw. You can't quite place WHY - it's not like the fall will actually KILL YOU kill you - but you've always had that mortal fear of it. Like some sorta phobia, or something.

Anyway, no need to dwell on that now. You've managed to stop screaming long enough to hear your own altimeter beeping in alarm - and it's already ticking past 700 feet, which means that your landing isn't going to be the softest. Plus, there's also the fact that you're not going to hit the sea when you land. Far from it.

You're actually going to land on one of the struts themselves. Specifically, onto one of the buildings on that strut that looks like it's swarming with staff. And most probably guards.

...Shit. Shit shit shit!

What do you do now?

[]Open your chute. You'll risk being seen, but at least you'll land safely.[]Forget about the chute. Go for the hard landing, but try to land somewhere hidden.[]FUCK THIS. CRASH THROUGH THE ROOF, START TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS. GO MAXIMUM OR GO HOME.

>>29825153[x]Forget about the chute. Go for the hard landing, but try to land somewhere hidden.Remember, if you hit the roof with your spear and have your spear collapse, you'll at least take the impact over a longer period of time, which means less force gets transmitted into your body! Which means you get hurt less.

>>29825153>[X]Forget about the chute. Go for the hard landing, but try to land somewhere hidden.As much as I'd like MAXIMUM something tells me it's not worth giving MurderFARTS and Sayaka something to agree on.

>>29825290>If theres gonna be trouble,but there won't be if we land somewhere stealthy-like and just wait for Sayaka to put our legs back on. (Once we recover enough to wake up and contact her, anyway)

>>29825273Going MAXIMUM right out after a failed landing is probably not a good idea, as it's likely she'll get hurt in the fall (or possibly not if she goes MAXIMUM ATTACK THE GROUND TO AVOID FALL DAMAGE).

Fall secretly is risky as we'd likely take the most fall damage that way.

Pulling chute and getting seen will mean we'll trigger the alarm AND be a hanging target.

They're all bad options. Getting hurt a bit from the fall and not making that much of a splash is probably a better option in my view.

>>29825333Well that's probably not a good sign...I mean the sign itself is quite nice, beautiful calligraphy really, and the messenger couldn't be more perfect...an yet there is a feeling that we went wrong somewhere fairly recently.

A thought. Why should we try to shoulder everything with Pinky & our Past self on our own. Why not seek the help of those who also seem involved with our other selve's history with Madoka Kaname. If we told them all we knew up to this point, and the plan to kill the version of ourself that makes Pinky look sane, I think they would take it well.

I see no possible way to break all the news at once without sounding insane, "So my gun told me that a transcended form of one of my past lives stole the power of a god, whom also happens to be my ex girlfriend. So my plan is to collects 20 weapons of mass destruction so I can kill myself to save myself from myself."

>>29825620>Listen guys, you know how I can make Time my bitch? Well, turns out before I went crazy, I kept looping the same month trying to stop a previous timeline's version of Malal from dying. It worked so well that she's now an unstoppable eldritchian horror, and the only way to stop her is to collect all of her super-powered golden toys and use them to murder the previous timeline's version of me. Who is also an unstoppable god-like being.Sounds just fine to me.

>>29825703Remember us trying to explain just tue golden weapons to Sayaka?It will be that times 10000She won't even try talking she will just kill us and take the warmaster cap claiming we lost our shit

>>29825741>Kyoko: Are we talking Mermaid with the last parts on top and the fish parts on the bottom or the fish parts on top and the lady parts on the bottom.>Sayaka: KYOKO!>Kyoko: A girl's gotta know these things.

>>29825812>Kyoko: so I get my own horse AND become awesome at wax play?!>Sayaka: Why are you excited about this!>Kyoko: Optimism, glass is always half full.>Chiaki: and Pinky lamented how many times in the cycle you didn't off yourself in a blaze of heroic double suicide romantic glory because she thought your witch form looked stupid.>Kyoko: THE HELL IT IS (kicks shield) GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE!

Alright, shit. You'll have to go for the hard landing, here - and you've been through enough of them to know that this is going to hurt like a bitch no matter what you do. All you can do is try to make your impact less of a noisier one.

As the roof of the building begins to fill your vision, hurtling towards you at pretty much breakneck speed - it's here that you tear your chute pack away from your back with one hand, while manifesting your spear again with the other. Whirling your spear once, you stab the triangular point of your signature pigsticker right into the pack - pushing it in just enough that it's stuck firmly into the thick, folded nylon material but not penetrating all the way through. Forming a sort of padding for the spearpoint.

A moment more - one moment closer to being reduced to a fine, meaty paste all over steel roofing - and you grit your teeth as you force your body into one streamlined shape, your spear forming the impact point as you point it towards the rapidly-approaching ground with both hands.

Not the smartest thing you've done, but...well. You've done worse.

THUMP. Your padded spearpoint finally hits the steel roofing - not with a crash, not with a stab, but a thump. Right at that exact moment, you force your spear to collapse, segment by segment - each chained section falling apart as the brute force of the impact itself begins to travel up your weapon.

Each segment's destruction dampening the shock, reducing it to nothing more than a numbing sting by the time it gets to you at the very end. Slowing down your own fall, too - enough that you only get a bunch of cracked ribs and a dislocated arm by the time you crash on top of your own, now-useless chute pack.

JESUS FUCK WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, JUST A BUNCH OF CRACKED RIBS AN' A DISLOCATED ARM?

IT FUCKING HURTS, GOD. YOU DON'T USE 'JUST' WHEN LISTING THAT KIND OF SHIT OFF.

Biting back your own screams, you force yourself to go completely still, hoping to hell that whoever's inside the building you've crashed onto doesn't think to check out just what landed on their roof.

You wait for a couple of moments, bracing yourself to burst into action the moment you hear something approaching you - but there's nothing, nothing except your own pounding heartbeat thundering in your ears.

...Well. Shit. Guess your luck is holding a bit, then.

Slowly, carefully, and painfully - you pick yourself back up. Taking care not to make too much noise as you cancel your spear's manifestation, making it disappear in a small flare of crimson flame. You wince as you grab your dislocated arm - looks like it's just popped out of joint on your elbow. Easily fixed.

Just as you make to force it back into the joint - placing one of your chute's straps between your teeth to help you keep quiet - it's here that you catch a conversation coming from somewhere below you. Two guys from the sound of it, middle-aged.

"Christ, did you hear that noise? Sounded like something landed up there."

"Nah, it's probably just one of those seagulls again."

"Really? It sounded kind of heavy for one."

"...What, you want me to check it out?"

"Could you? This place gives me the creeps already. Bad enough we had to call in some sparklies to help patrol the fucking place."

"Alright. Just sit tight here, and don't finish all the fucking whisky before I get back."

>>29826143[x]Find someplace to hide. No need to start up shit this early.If their employer is paranoid enough, they've got heart monitors implanted in all the guards just so stealth kills raise an alarm.

>>29826143>[X]Find someplace to hide. No need to start up shit this early.

Listen to the conversation a bit. Then after a few mins, KO one and interrogate the other for information. After the interrogation is done KO that dude as well, scatter some of the whiskey around and drain most of the bottle over a railing.

She lost those powers from the trauma of having her father murder her family. That part of her story seems to have remained the same in MGNQ. She regained them in The Different Story, but we haven't been given any indication that she has them again here.

It's possible given that she seems more balanced than classic PMMM Kyouko, though

Hide! Yeah, you can probably put this guy away easily, but you'd much rather focus on not being spotted for now. Besides, Sayaka and Murderface - MurderFARTS, you correct yourself - were really into the whole sneaky attack plan, and you wouldn't want to be the one to spoil things for the two of them. Even though they can be two stupid dildoes sometimes.

Grabbing your chute pack with your good hand and slinging it over your shoulder, you look around for somewhere to hide. ...Not much luck there, unless you wanted to gamble hiding behind one of the airconditioning units chugging along on the roof.

It's here, then, that you spot what looks to be a pile of folded carboard boxes, just beside the door leading down from the roof and into the building. And they're the big, corrugated-cardboard sort, too - the ones they use for supplies and really big equipment. You'd probably fit in one if you scrunched yourself down enough--

The rattling of the door's handle alerts you to the fact that whoever's being sent to check on the roof is very, very close.

Shit! Nothing for it! You take one from the pile, assemble it as best as you could, before crouching down and pulling it over you. Just in time for the door to creak open, and a rather well-armed silhouette to step out onto the roof.

"...Well, there's nothing here. Fuckin'..." The man grumbles, before turning back towards the way he came. "There's nothing in here! Must've been the seagulls, like I told you!"

Yeah, that's right. Just the seagulls. You'd caw here, just to add to the effect, but you feel that it'd just be giving yourself away. And you're not too confident with your seagull mimicry skills, at that.

"Just give it a good check! You know we have to report that kind of thing!"

No! NO! You don't need to report that kind of thing, you dildo! Jesus! What kind of security detail are you? Just go ahead and keep boozin', there are no strange magical girls up here!

"...Fine, whatever."

NO! GOD DAMMIT!

You will yourself to stop screaming in rage and frustration as you watch the silhouette unsling the rifle from his shoulder, holding it easy between two hands. "Right, I'm gonna give this place a sweep, but I swear if I come back down an' there's no more whisky left, I'm gonna tan your damn hide for this."

Christ. Looks like he's gonna snoop around.

Fuck, Murderface probably never got into this kind of shit, did she? Ahh, you'll have to make sure no one finds out about this. EVER.

What do you do?

[]Just chill. Believe in the box. Maximum believe.[]Fuck this, go for the knock out as soon as he's close and has his back turned to you.

>>29827253If guards identify each other by smell, we can get further than that. You see, they're soaking themselves in whisky on their leasure. This means the moment they notice Murderface, they have to recongise her as their superior leader.

No! No, chill! You remind yourself to calm down as you watch the silhouette start to lazily make its way around the roof, briefly stopping to stub its booted toe on one of the airconditioning units and spit expletives. The box hides you from plain sight, it conceals you from detection! Believe in the box, and it will serve you well! Maximum believe!

You continue to repeat this mantra to yourself, willing back the impulse trained into every Eversor ever contracted to burst out of cover just go nuts on the guy. Soon enough, it actually pays off - with the security detail shaking his head, slinging his rifle back over his shoulder and making his way back down to the lower floor - slamming the door closed behind him.

"YOU FUCKER! YOU DRANK IT ALL! AND I TOLD YOU TO SAVE ME SOME, YOU DRUNK PADDY BASTARD!"

Huh! That actually worked! You carefully lift the box off of you as you stand up, ignoring the sound of frantic scuffling and muffled cursing in the floor below you. You thought that only worked in videogames and shit!

After a moment's hesitation, you fold the box back into its more compact form, before stuffing it into your inventory. Might come in handy later, you never know, right?

You dump the rest of the boxes on top of your now-useless chute pack, too, just to make sure it doesn't get found that easily. You'd throw it off the ledge and into the sea, but you think that'd cause more of a commotion than just hiding it.

It's also here that you take time to fix your arm. Nothing all that complicated - a simple twist with your other arm while pulling away with your shoulder, and you're back to a hundred percent again! Well, probably not a complete hundred percent, as you've still got those cracked ribs, but maybe you're not perfect, so that's okay.

Right. So. First order of business - to try and contact those two dildos you call your team mates. They're probably thinking that you got lost and ended up in the bottom of the sea or something.

You pull out your codec headset and put it on - but instead of the comforting static it has when it's trying to cycle through available operation channels, all you get is dead air - which means something's wrong with the headset itself. Shit. Must've been jostled too hard when you landed, or something.

Eh, nevermind. You know where you're all supposed to be meeting up in, anyway. Strut A, right? Now you just have to find out where you are at the moment, and then it's a simple matter of not being seen as you make your way towards Strut A. Easy enough!

Using another one of your collapsing spears, you rappel down the side of the building you crashed into - the closer look revealing that it's not just a building, but a warehouse. One situated behind what looks like a Helipad.

Warehouse. Helipad. That means...

...Shit, that's how far off target you were?! Strut H?!

This is not the strut you're looking for! That one is clear across the other side! Fuck!

Wait, wait. No need to panic. It's okay. You just have to be more careful, yeah? Stick to the shadows and everything. Callidus-style. Yeah, you never really paid attention to that part of basic training, but you can certainly improvise.

You let go of your spear as you reach the last few feet to solid ground - or solid gangway, at least, the ones that lead from strut to strut. One of them in particular, the one to your left, leads from the current strut you're on and bridges over to the other shell - where you believe Strut A should be. That path itself looks pretty clear of guards or staff - just a few of its areas lit by searchlights. Not a problem, you can handle that.

Just as you're about to move out of the building's cover, though--

"Alright, asshole." A voice - rough and snarling, and digitized by a helm vox to sound all the more meaner - suddenly spits behind you. "I don't care who you are or who you're working for, but you ain't supposed to be here - and that makes you MINE."

Punctuating those words is the double-click of two guns' safeties being disengaged.

SHIT.

How do you react?

[]MAXIMUM KILL[]DISTRACTION FIRE[]Play it cool. Raise your hands, tell whoever it is that you're the new sparkly temp on duty.

>>29827848>[X]Play it cool. Raise your hands, tell whoever it is that you're the new sparkly temp on duty.Kyouko's kill count is lower than Sayaka's and Kirika's, maximum kill is a last resort. If they have any sense and see through the bluff, we can say we tried.

>>29827848Distraction, look over the sparkly's shoulder, say that there's some chutes coming down. Have faith in the classics. Kyouko's a monster close fighter, she can rip cranky several new orifices if she gets half a second

>>29827848[x]Play it cool. MAXIMUM BLUFF.[x]"Thank god, finally I find another girl on this damn platform! Look, can you show me the way Girls Restroom before I pee myself? There is no way I´m going to ask one of those Meatheads, they would just try to peep on me or something!"

You let out a sigh, here. Fine. You tried your best. Honestly, sneaking around isn't really your style, but...well, you thought it'd actually work! And it was! Until, of course, you suddenly get found out by Big Bad Robovoice right this moment. Which is total and extreme bullshit.

Well, no real big loss. This was gonna happen, anyway. If Sayaka or Murderface chews you out of it, you'll just say that you really, really tried.

"Well, I ain't that cruel, really. Maybe I do want to know who I'm talkin' to, at least, so's we know where to send the body." Your would-be captor chuckles through his vox, the sound twisted to sound more like a tank changing gears. "Now, why don't you turn around slow-like? We don't have to make this a messy affair an' everything, just be all civilized an' shit. No sparkly shit, though, please? I'm allergic. And when I get allergic, my trigger finger gets all itchy."

...Clever. You slowly turn on your heel, keeping your face as impassive as possible. Both hands

It's here, then, that both you and your opponent get a good look at each other. And truth be told, you were expecting a Culexus to have gotten the drop on you.

Turns out you're wrong. The suit itself is similar, but it's not as...spiky or as biker-like as the Culexus suit. Rather, it's a bit more streamlined, a bit more...glossy. The helmet's in sort of a weird skull shape that reminds you oddly of a frog's, with red-tinted visor eyes. Something's up with its boots, too, which doesn't look like bots at all but really high-tech looking shoes with claws affixed on the toes. Probably for climbing or something.

You didn't wait for her to finish. You manifested your spear as quickly as you can, focusing it to materialize between your already gripping fingers - and as soon as it appeared, you made your first cut with your spear's blade. The slicing edge of your spear cutting right into your attacker's neck joint, between her suit and her helmet.

It's...you're not proud of that hit. You don't kill unless you have to, or ordered to. But fuck if you're going to risk jeopardizing this mission just because you balked, and--

"That's a mistake."

You blink, here, and turn back towards the armored girl you've just killed. Only you didn't really kill her - someHOW, she managed to cover her neck joint with a gauntleted hand, preventing you from making the kill right then and there. All you managed to cut into was her own hand, evidenced by the blood now dripping down your spear's triangular blade.

N-norway. NO FUCKING WAY!

"Gotta say, that was pretty fuckin' quick, though. I'd've been floatin' back to Sentosa a headless corpse if you were just a tiny bit faster." You then hear a grin in her voice, something even the vox is unable to scrub away with its corruption. "Or luckier."

You attempt to tug your spear free - to have another go at skewering this smug bitch - but for some reason, she's able to prevent you from doing so, and all by just holding the blade. "What's the rush? I asked your name, right?" You tug harder, here, but it just wouldn't budge. "Alright, givin' you ten seconds to answer. Five--"

Wait. WAIT. What the fuck happened to TEN?! She can't just cut to five--

You grit your teeth to brace yourself to dodge - when a deafening, blinding explosion from the other shell rocks the entire facility. Causing tremors to rattle the very structure itself, making the struts creak and groan and grind at each other. Both you and your would-be murderer stumbling, swaying, trying to regain your balance. Thanks to her armor, though, she gets her footing quicker than you. "Wait, wait, what the fuck's going on, I don't--"

Another explosion, this time louder, and brighter - and the two of you turn to see Strut B go up in flames. This is then followed by all the lights - ALL - in Big Shell shutting down, or simply switching off.

"NO! Shit, that's the Transformer Room! We've got no eyes and ears!" Your captor spits, her helm's crimson-red visor glowing in the dark. "Freon? Freon, do you copy? Freon, Strut B's fucked, we've got no power. ...Yeah, of course I fucking know! And I know who did it too, I--SHIT! HEY, GET BACK HERE!"

"WOULD YOU FUCKING REALLY, IF SOMEONE ASKED YOU TO?" You scream back into the darkness as you book it - using what little light the stars and the moon are giving you to navigate your way to the other Shell. Thanking your luck that Murderface and Sayaka went ahead and blew up Strut B without you. Of course, you're going to be pissed that they didn't let you see the fireworks from up close, but...this is good. Yeah. This is good.

Still, what the fuck was back there?! No one's been able to catch that kind of hit from you ever. Just...just what kind of sparkly was that?!

In the chaos of the blackout, you make it safely across - the darkness and the apparent commotion of the workers making good cover for you.

It's here, too, that you spot two brightly-colored dots heading towards you, from Strut B - and you grin as you recognize them. Sayaka and Murderface, pushing past the crowd. The latter stuffing something into her Shield.

You never hear the rest of her sentence, as another explosion - this time, from behind you - completely drowns it in its bassy, echoing roar.

And for a moment, you blink in puzzlement as the world suddenly spins around you - before suddenly deciding to just crush you from above. The cold metal grille of the catwalk pressing against your back.

...Wait. How? How did--

You try to move, to pull yourself to an upright position - only to see your right leg gone.

Completely sheared off from the knee. The stump there smoking, cauterized, misting blood.

It's then that you see a bright, crimson dot slowly travel from the fingertip of your outstretched hand to your elbow.

...Oh.

Another explosion. Another burst of crimson.

And this time, it really hurt.

Enough for you to scream.

>>Mission Perspective Switch: At various times on this mission, you'll be able to switch between perspectives. Vote for the Magical Girl's perspective you wish to experience this part of the mission from!

[X]ChiakiChiaki probably has more experience with snipers and how to deal with them, and if things really go bad, we have 2 unused timestops now that we could use to get Kyoko to safety in an emergency. The fact the sniper is not targeting Kyokos soul gem but shooting off limbs which can be regrown, implies that she/he is trying to lure Chiaki and Sayaka to the line of fire to be shot in turn. Chiaki has the experience to realise that as a vindicare and act right, while Sayaka probably does not.

Besides, Sayaka might be freaking out and not necessarily the best option here considering a sniper is shooting Kyoko who is her lover.

Rin and WendyA Meeting Between Old Friends01/27/14(Mon)15:05 No.29829778

A Meeting Between Old FriendsRin and Wendy01/27/14(Mon)15:05No.29829778

A woman in a simple, tasteful gray coat walked along the side of Paris’ Champs-Elysees. She walked purposefully, piercing blue eyes scanning the midday shopping crowd around her, before stopping at the door to one of the street’s many upscale cafes and looking around the seating area. The one she was looking for rarely made herself easy to find; quite the opposite, as was her habit (and her hobby, and once in a while, her greatest joy in life). But once in a while…

Once in a while she sat in a cafe, blonde hair brilliant as the sun, in fashion that may have been purchased just minutes ago. Their eyes met for a fraction of a moment, and she gave a small but enthusiastic wave.

The blue-eyed woman smiled happily and moved quickly to the table. “Salut, Monique! Comment ca va?” She spoke a bit louder than necessary. Several of the patrons at the surrounding tables glanced over disapprovingly, then paid the loud woman no further mind.

“Severine!” her partner squealed, though she forced it down just slightly lower - ever so slightly. In an instant, she stood to brush her lips to the other woman’s cheeks, an age-old ritual that surely predated answering simple questions. “Tres bien, tres bien~ Et toi? Asseyez-vous, asseyez-vous~”

“Merci, merci.” The other woman sat quickly, leaning to rest her elbows on the table. In a lower voice, she added, “It’s good to see you again.”

The blonde beamed as she settled back in. “Likewise. Thank you for doing me this little courtesy. You’ve been very busy, haven’t you?” It was a smile that could almost be confused for fake, in its odd, grey sincerity.

‘Severine’ smiled wryly. “Busy is one way to put it. Jumping at shadows and skulking about behind the scenes might be more accurate. It’s not the way I prefer to operate, but I didn’t really have much choice.”

“We do what we must. As a professional skulker, I can assure you, you get used to it.” ‘Monique’s’ smile melted, turned unquestionably kind for at least a few moments. “And if anyone can pull them through this, it’s you. Just hang in there.”

Severine snorted. “They don’t even know I’m still alive. You have any idea how that damned cat is going to react when he finds out? To say nothing of the Russian.”

Monique’s voice twisted, distorted for a moment, now high and inhuman. “I prefer my assets to be available to deploy at my convenience. It would be ill-advised to continue as you have where I cannot make proper use of your abilities.” It was only for a moment, however - after she cleared her throat, her voice returned to its purring soprano. “If he’s anything like ours, anyway.”

“Heh. More or less, yes. Just with more screenings, interrogations, and time in a Silent Room.” Severine crossed her legs. “But enough about that. What have you been up to while I’ve been playing dead? I’ve heard a few things recently.”

Monique quirked an eyebrow, a bemused expression playing its way onto her face only to be interrupted with coffee arriving, and the pleasantries involved.

“You’ve heard things? Do go on.”

Her friend accepted her cup with a word of thanks, and sipped before answering. “The unfortunate accident that befell a certain Foreign Minister recently. That nasty business in Uganda. Need I go on?”

“Now, now, isn’t it a little rude to assume we’re involved in EVERY suspicious thing that happens?” She brought her coffee to her lips, then yanked it away, scowling at the cup. Too hot. Much too hot. “Although it’s true that a certain Minister was making it a little difficult for a few of our continued operations. I would just call it...good luck? Or kismet, if I was feeling romantic. And I usually am.”

Severine spread her hands with a smile. “Of course, of course. I congratulate you on your stroke of luck. I was merely curious. Your operations do have a certain...style to them, for someone who knows where to look for it.”

The blonde giggled, flashing her friend a grin. “Well, I have never been accused of modesty. It drives the cat up the wall sometimes, though - everything needs to have a certain style. He says it isn’t clean, but I’ve always thought there was something to adding a little flavor. The most private place is a room full of people, and all that.”

“Indeed. I admit, you’ve always been better at that side of things than I. I much prefer to not be seen at all. Removes that chance of detection. And my methods are admittedly somewhat more...direct...than yours.”

“It’s just the game of it, I guess...we’re both old ladies, let’s not kid ourselves, here. We’ve been doing this for a long time. Sometimes you just need to...spice it up a little bit. Keep it fresh, keep it fun. But the way I see it, whether a man dies in an explosion, an accident, or from a shot to the head from five kilometers away, he’s dead.”

Severine let out a bark of laughter. “Don’t let the cat hear that, he’ll go on for hours about the collateral damage the last time I tried to ‘spice up’ an operation.” She paused. “Okay, in all fairness, a stolen Davy Crockett is not the most efficient way I’ve ever killed someone, but damned if it wasn’t fun. I’m told the whole town’s still uninhabitable.”